If I hear one more person tell me that their hair is hard I think I might give them a mini rant. Natural hair has been described as hard for many years which is always strange to me because in my experience I have not felt one head that reminded me of a piece of plywood, not even one!
We think the confusion comes when a person has dense and coarse hair, and for want of a better description they call their strands ‘hard’.
Coarse strands are thick strands, they are strong and do not break easily under pressure, though they will break. A woman with coarse hair can withstand more manipulation in comparison to a woman with fine hair.
Added to that if a woman has coarse and dense hair this means that the strands are not only thick but your hair over all is thick as well; This is a great thing.
Handling coarse dense hair might be overwhelming for the average newbie but once you learn how to handle your hair we can testify that you will never describe it as ‘hard’ again.
4 Simple Techniques You Can Use to Handle Coarse Dense Hair
1. Steaming – Steam conditioning or using heat to deep condition your hair is the best thing for your strands because the heat opens the cuticles allows for your products to flow in, heal and moisturize your hair.
2. Choose thick moisturizers and butters* – Coarse hair needs something with a little ‘umph’ to it. So use thicker products to tame frizz as well as seal and protect your hair from losing moisture.
3. Keep your hair stretched – Dense hair can get tangled easily so use stretching techniques like braids, roller sets, bantu knots, twists or banding to keep your hair stretched out and untangled.
4. Appreciate your hair for what it is – Like we mentioned, coarse dense hair is thick, resilient and beautiful, what’s not to love!
If we change our outlook on how we view our hair it can change a lot of other things that come with caring for it. Do you have coarse dense hair?
I was just saying to someone today that was saying my hair feels crunchy or rough. I said, no it doesn’t feel like permed hair. I think many of us are comparing it to permed hair.
When I relaxed my hair, I lamented the fact it wasn’t thick, fat, or course. It didn’t curl worth crap. I remembered that when it was natural, I was so much younger, it curled and stayed styled until I washed it out. I wanted it that way when it was relaxed and never got it. Now it’s natural again and I’ve vowed to never relax it ever again cause it’s thick, fat and curly and I love it like I should have when I was oh so young and foolish.
My hair IS this article. As long as I can remember, my mother would sigh at my hair every single time it was due to wash and comb and at some point refer to it as coarse & think…and now that I’ve become the manager of my own hair, I definitely added dense to that list. While I have heard others describe their hair as ‘hard’ it never resonated with me.
My hair is soft and I have coarse thick curly hair .